UK Ethanol Producer TMO Secures $18M In Funding

TMO Renewables Ltd, developer of a new process for converting biomass into fuel ethanol, has completed a round of financing worth GBP 11 million ($18.2 million) from institutional shareholders and private investors.

The round included existing shareholders such as Jupiter Asset Management, Noble Group, RAB Capital and many of TMO’s retail investors, as well as new investors Presnow Limited, Diverso Management and Libra Advisors.

Presnow, which has invested a total of GBP 4 million ($6.6 million) in TMO, brings to the table significant knowledge of the ethanol and agrarian sectors in both the United States and Brazil.

Diverso, a cleantech private equity fund, contributed GBP 2 million ($3.3 million) as part of this round. Diverso specializes in renewable and cleantech opportunities in China, and brings to TMO an active channel into the rapidly growing Chinese renewables market. TMO also secured investment from Libra Advisors, a U.S. investment fund.

The company, which has a process demonstration unit in Surrey, England, plans to use the funds as working capital, primarily to support its entry into the U.S. market. TMO sees many opportunities for its technology in the United States, whether for refitting existing corn ethanol plants to improve yields or applied to new, non-food biofuel facilities.

Hamish Curran, TMO CEO, said in a statement: “These funds will allow us to roll out our proven second-generation ethanol technology in the U.S. marketplace and beyond. There are significant opportunities in North America for TMO, and we are pleased that this investment will enable us to engage fully those clients for whom we have successfully trialed a wide range of feedstocks – from grasses and wheat straw, to newspaper, municipal waste and distillers’ grains, a by-product of the traditional corn ethanol process.”

source: cleantechbrief